


Baby It's Cold Outside

by RainbowLookingGlass



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Get Together, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, M/M, Sick Character, kinda I guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 01:45:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8602324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowLookingGlass/pseuds/RainbowLookingGlass
Summary: Jack isn't thrilled at being woken up in the middle of the night. But when he realizes how dire the situation is, he forgets his irritation, rushing to save the man he's been crushing on from a climate he's not cut out for.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is very loosely based on a situation that happened earlier, with one of my best friends getting caught outside in the snow and asking me to let her into my apartment. Not nearly as dire circumstances. Also I don't think the set up of the campus quite works out for this, but we'll go with it. This is set Bitty's sophomore year.

Jack startled awake to an insistent buzzing. Looking around, he realized the screen of his phone was lit up where it sat vibrating on his desk. Groaning, he grabbed it and swiped the screen, answering the call. “Hallo?” he answered it, his accent thick with sleep. 

“J-jack? Are you home?” a small, shaky voice asked on the other end. Jack immediately sat up in bed, suddenly wide awake. 

“Bittle? Yes, of course I’m home. Are you okay?” he asked, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He glanced at the alarm clock. It was one in the morning, far later than Bittle should’ve been calling. His heart rate spiked and his chest suddenly felt tight. He began rummaging around for a shirt as Bittle spoke again.

“I, well, kind of? Could you let me in? I-it’s really cold.” Jack frowned. What on earth was Bittle doing outside this late in late November? In the back of his mind he was profoundly grateful that they didn’t have practice in the morning.

“Yes, I’ll be right there,” he told Bittle, hanging up abruptly. He pulled a Samwell Hockey t-shirt over his head and slid his feet into slippers as quickly as he could before leaving his room, taking the stairs two at a time. He unlocked the deadbolt and threw the door open, and the sight made his stomach sink. Bittle was at the door, shivering hard. He was only wearing only a sweater and scarf for warmth, no coat, and his hair all of his clothing was soaked through. Wind was whipping, swirling huge, wet snowflakes through the air and into the Haus. Bittle’s cheeks were bright pink but otherwise he was ghostly pale and his teeth were chattering, and he looked sleepy enough to worry Jack. Jack wasted no time grabbing him and pulling him inside, closing the door behind him. Bittle looked up at him with half-lidded eyes, a soft smile on his lips. 

“Bittle, what were you doing outside at this hour?” he asked, pulling Bittle into the kitchen. Bittle sank into a chair, curling up and resting his chin on his knees, still shivering. Almost against his will, his eyes closed. Jack realized his breathing was a bit shallow, and a new jolt of fear coursed through him. He knelt in front of Bittle, shaking him awake. “Bittle, hey, Bitty. How long were you outside?” Bitty looked at him for a second before he seemed to process what he said.

“Umm… I’m not sure? I was at the library finishing a paper that’s due tomorrow, and I lost track of time. Then I was trying to walk home, and it was dark and kinda icy, and you know where I always slip and joke that I’m gonna fall into the Pond? Well tonight I actually did, and it took me a little while to get out, I’m not the strongest swimmer… And I got a little confused a-and wandered around for a bit, before I figured out where I was and how to get here. ‘Cept it was locked, and I couldn’t find my keys… so I called. Hope you don’t mind,” his shivering, which had been getting worse despite the new environment, had stopped. Jack would take this as a good sign except that his speech had been getting slower and more slurred. Jack was finding it hard to breath now, but he forced his lungs to accept a deep breath. Now was not the time for panic.

“Alright. I’m really glad you did. I think you might have hypothermia. Can you stand?” Bittle looked hesitant to do so, but slowly uncurled himself and got to his feet. He swayed a bit, and Jack caught him. After a second of hesitation, Jack slipped an arm behind his shoulders and the other behind his knees, gently picking him up and carrying him towards the stairs. With Bittle in his arms, he could truly appreciate just how cold Bittle really was. He had never been so grateful that he had been taught about hypothermia when he was younger, in Canada.

Jack carried Bittle to his room, gently setting him on his feet. He began unwrapping the scarf when Bittle made a noise of protest. “We need to get your wet clothes off, immediately,” he told Bitty, getting him to hold his arm up as he peeled the sweater and t shirt off him too. Soon he had all of Bitty’s clothing off of him. Jack was a bit worried about modesty, but he figured they’d shared a locker room enough, and this would definitely count as extenuating circumstances regardless. Jack grabbed a towel from the bathroom, rubbing Bitty down to dry him off and get blood flowing a bit. He was beginning to look more alert and aware, his coloring a bit more normal. Jack rummaged around in his drawers, finding the smallest sweats he owned. Bitty was able to put them on himself, hugging himself tightly, shivers still wracking him occasionally. Jack knew what would definitely warm him up, but was afraid it would be weird. Desperate time called for desperate measures, though.

“Come on,” Jack told him, touching his arm. “Into bed.” Eric just looked at him with wide eyes.

“Your bed? You want to sleep in my room?” he asked, tilting his head. Jack just sighed.

“No, Bittle. Both of us, in my bed. I know it’ll be a little tight, but it’s the fastest way to warm you up the rest of the way. Besides, your state when you got into the Haus was pretty scary. I want to be with you to make sure you don’t suddenly get worse again or anything,” he said, pulling his covers back and sitting on the edge of the bed. Reluctantly, Bittle followed him. They got into the small bed together, Jack spooning Bitty. As promised, it didn’t take long before feeling fully came back to Bitty’s fingers and toes, his body almost feeling like it was burning but slowly feeling more normal. He sighed a bit, snuggling against Jack a little.

“I was so scared,” he murmured sleepily. "For a while I wasn’t sure I would be able to get out of the Pond. Thank goodness I dropped my bag when I fell, and that my phone was in my bag and not my pocket like usual. That I was able to find my bag when I got out. You didn’t have to do all this, you know. I just wanted to get into the Haus, where it was warm.” Jack held him a bit tighter, suddenly overwhelmed with the possibilities of how this night could’ve gone differently. It could’ve ended with Bitty in a hospital. With him… no, he couldn’t think about that. The important thing was he was here, in Jack’s arms, safe. A deep fondness welled inside him as Bitty held onto the arm Jack had wrapped around him, treating it like a stuffed animal. Soon Bitty’s breathing slowed and evened out, indicating he’d fallen asleep. Jack laid awake a while longer, listening to the strong, deep breathing, before he allowed it to lull him to sleep. 

He woke up alone, his bed feeling inexplicably empty. The night before came rushing back to him, and his heart clenched with worry. He rushed downstairs, looking for Bitty. Jack found him in the kitchen, humming to himself and mixing something in a bowl. At the sound of Jack’s arrival he turned around, smiling at him brightly. He was still wearing Jack’s clothing, and the realization made Jack’s heart flutter a bit.

“Mornin’!” Bitty greeted him, going back to his bowl. “I’m just making pancakes, if you wanna sit down. They’ll just be a couple minutes now.” Jack obediently sat down, watching the ease with which Bitty moved around the kitchen. 

“How are you feeling?” Jack asked abruptly. Bitty looked over at him, a bit sheepish.

“Oh, I’m right as rain today, thanks to you. Really, though, I can’t thank you enough for last night. I was in a bad way, and I… I don’t want to think about what might’ve happened if you hadn’t answered, hadn’t known how to get me back to a normal temperature. So thank you,” he said, smiling gently. “Hey, how about we go to Annie’s today? I’ll treat you to coffee, thank you properly for savin’ my life,” he chirped. Jack couldn’t help but smile.

“I’d like that,” he told Bitty. Then, on impulse, added “but I have a better idea.” Bitty just looked over at him, curious. Jack’s cheeks burned with color, and he wanted to back out, but he didn’t have any ideas on how to gracefully. In for a penny, out for a pound.

“How about you repay me by letting me take you on a date instead,” he rushed out. Bitty froze, looking at him in shock. “We could go to dinner? Or just to Annie’s for coffee. Whatever you wanted, but I just… I’d like to take you out,” he finished awkwardly. He wished the floor would open up and swallow him up. Bitty wasn’t moving, wasn’t saying anything. Clearly this was a mistake, he’d read all the signals all wrong, misinterpreted-

“I’d love to,” Bitty interrupted his thought process. He was beaming, looking at Jack like he’d hung the moon. “How about I finish these pancakes up, and we can discuss what we’d like to do over breakfast? A date sounds lovely, though.” Jack couldn’t help but grin back at him, his chest filling with warmth and his stomach fluttering with butterflies.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Sounds great.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr @thesegayhockeynerds if you wanna say hi!


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